Hold onto your miniature hats—now comes the fun part: painting and personalizing the dollhouse!
In our previous post we covered the full building process, so here we’ll pick up with how we finished and decorated the house.
Once assembled, we carried our 31″ x 31″ dollhouse into the sunroom to prime and paint. I used Zinsser Smart Prime for its bleed-blocking properties on raw and stained wood, then two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance for a durable, self-leveling finish. We used leftover Decorator’s White from other projects, so painting cost us nothing extra. Below is the house after priming:
I applied the paint with a brush in tight spots and a small foam roller on larger surfaces like the sides, roof, and back. After the first coat, I let it cure for about 30 hours before moving on to the next step.
With the paint fully cured, it was time for wallpaper.
For wallpapers I raided craft supplies and gift wrap I already had on hand. The house uses a mix of gift wrap, decorative paper, and decorative tape from local shops and Michael’s. I cut templates for each room’s back wall using printer paper (taping sheets together when needed), traced and cut the decorative paper to size, then attached each piece with double-sided tape. To protect the paper from scratches or tears I brushed a thin coat of matte Mod Podge over most rooms—except the one covered with shiny decorative tape.
Here’s a quick guide to what I used for each room’s backing:
- Top left: Gift wrap from a local shop
- Top right: Decorative paper from Michael’s
- Middle left: Decorative tape strips mounted on cardstock
- Middle middle: Older gift wrap
- Middle right: More decorative paper from Michael’s
- Bottom left: Extra decorative paper from Michael’s
- Bottom right: More gift wrap
For furniture, I bought a mixed lot of vintage dollhouse pieces on eBay for $30 including shipping. They arrived grimy, so I soaked everything in hot soapy water to clean them before refinishing.
Because the original colors didn’t match our vision, I spray-primed and spray-painted the furniture. I allowed plenty of time for off-gassing by painting in March and leaving items stored in the sealed sunroom and outdoors on sunny days until they no longer smelled. Some pieces got a dark brown finish to mimic wood using Rust-Oleum with built-in primer, while most received a white base (Rust-Oleum Universal Satin White) and several were top-coated with bright accent colors—Sun Yellow and Lagoon—to add playful pops throughout the house.
After sitting in the sunroom awhile they collected some dust, so I quickly rinsed them off before staging. The updated furniture looks cohesive and durable—great for a child’s playset.
We arranged the rooms loosely so Clara can rearrange as she likes. The scaled furniture is about 1/2″ scale; the house rooms were built slightly larger (8″ ceilings on the first two floors and a sloped attic from 6″ to roughly 10″) so Clara would have plenty of play space rather than strict scale accuracy.
For doll figures we chose Olivia’s family from Toys R Us—bendy plastic figures that fit the scale and are resilient for toddler play.
The nursery includes a crib, a vanity with a chair (I added tin foil to mimic a mirror), a baby piano, a dresser, and a tiny airplane charm used as a toy. Small accessories that could be choking hazards are kept in a separate box and only brought out during supervised play.
The playroom/extra bedroom holds assorted furniture, a fabric rug included in the furniture lot, a thrifted picture frame turned mirror with tinfoil, and a small faux topiary from the wedding aisle at Michael’s.
Tiny beads from Michael’s became playful “ceramic” animals on a dresser. I keep very small accessories aside unless we play together, and that works well with Clara’s current development stage.
The laundry room is one of my favorites. I used metallic decorative tape for the wallpaper to create a geometric, slightly luxe look, spray-painted a utility sink and washer bright yellow, and added a thrifted frame painted with chalkboard paint to serve as a message board. Clara loves changing the message—right now it reads “Moooo!”
The bedroom has a paper rug (I might laminate or replace it with a fabric rug later) and tiny accessories like a metal camera charm and a painted terra-cotta pot used as decor. The bathroom features a mint-green sink and a framed foil mirror above it. Clara quickly learned a pretend “flush” sound and spent lots of time playing with Olivia’s family there.
The living room still needs artwork, but it has a retro record-player/TV cabinet and a small rhino figurine. My favorite tiny accessory is a little burger I found on eBay—worth every penny for Clara’s delight.
The kitchen includes a stove, sink with tiny dishes (kept out during unsupervised play), and a bright yellow fridge. I built a small table from a wooden box top and a gift box base, then topped it with a homemade flowerpot and chairs from the furniture lot.
After arranging the rooms and adding a bow, we revealed the dollhouse to Clara. She ran to it as if it had always been there and immediately started playing, quickly learning that the furniture fit Olivia rather than herself. Watching her invent stories and routines with the little family was the best part.
Because most furnishings are plastic or metal, they should stand up to enthusiastic play. Clara’s favorite details are the Olivia figures, the kitten one holds, and “Baby Burger.” She talked about the dollhouse the very next morning, and we’ve already enjoyed some late-night playing too.
Budget breakdown:
- Wood: $35 (we reused a scrap piece for the back)
- Nails and wood glue: $0 (already owned; estimate $5 if you need to buy them)
- Primer & paint: $0 (leftovers; a gallon of each would be about $70)
- Dollhouse furniture: $30 (mixed lot on eBay, shipping included)
- Michael’s doodads: $5 (small accessories)
- Baby Burger: $6 (including shipping)
- Olivia’s family: $10 (Toys R Us)
- TOTAL: $86
Because we had many supplies on hand—paint, decorative paper, Mod Podge, and a scrap of wood—we finished under our $100 goal. The finished dollhouse is both playful and sturdy, and we’re excited to see how Clara keeps evolving the scenes as she grows.
Have you used gift wrap or decorative tape as wallpaper, or turned small beads into tiny decor pieces? We loved reading suggestions in the previous post and look forward to more creative ideas.